Foreword
It has been over 30 years since the first account planner walked the earth. Since
then account planning has developed into a job function that exists not only in the
advertising agencies but in client marketing departments, direct marketing agencies,
design consultancies, PR firms, media independents et al. It has long since existed
outside its London, England birthplace, extending to the US and Canada, Hong
Kong, Australia, Scandinavia, Chile, Brazil, Europe, even China. And those are just
the countries that have approached us about starting their own APG.
In the mid eighties, Sev DíSouza (of the then fabulously named Still Price Court
Twivy DíSouza ad agency) attempted a much needed and much referenced
definition of account planning. It has been distributed to our membership and
resided on our website since its inception. The time has now come, given planningís
ascent up the ladder of evolution, to have a stab at updating that definition. It is high
time we identified the various sub-species that exist, and predicted the key craft skills
and genes that will ensure our successful commercial survival beyond the year 2000.
Merry Baskin
Baskin Shark
APG Chair 1998-1999
April, 2001
A Brief History of Account Planning
Where it Started and Why
Stephen King of JWT and Stanley Pollitt of BMP are the undisputed forefathers of
account planning. In separate agencies, but at pretty much the same time, they
started a revolution in the advertising world which has spread from the UK to other
countries and from ad agencies to management consultancies, direct marketing, PR,
design and client research departments.
In 1964, Stephen King, dissatisfied with the workings of both the media and
marketing departments within his agency, developed a new system of working (the
T-Plan or Target Plan) which concentrated on combining consumer research and
insights to create more effective, creative advertising.
Stanley Pollitt in 1968, was concerned at the enormity of discretion given to account
management in the writing of the creative brief, and felt that they were using data
either incompetently or expediently. He wanted a research person at the elbow of
the account man. For Stanley, the voice of the consumer was of paramount
importance, and using consumer research to clarify the issues and enrich the
advertising development process was an essential component. When BMP was
formed, each of its three accounts was managed by an account director and a (line
function) account planner.
Both Stanley and Stephen shared a desire to reorganise the media planning, market
research and marketing departments. Stephen initially by a process, and Stanley via
a person. Both were led towards the creation of a new department and a new
discipline.
The Origins of the Job Title
The name "account planning" was coined by Tony Stead at a JWT awayday in 1968,
attended by media planners and account people from the marketing department. He
simply merged the two titles together as Stephenís new department was to comprise
a hybrid ñ selected folk from both disciplines. And so we have been saddled with
one of the most obfuscatory job titles ever since. Our North American friends in
adopting the discipline have strived to better it with the likes of ëBrand Plannerí and
ëStrategic Plannerí (preceded by the usual Senior Executive Vice President tosh, of
course) but none of these appear to have stuck. Perhaps we rather enjoy the
mystique of having a job title that implies crystal ball gazing without a clearly defined
handle?
The Evolution of Marketing
A brief note on the nature of marketing in those days: From the 50s, ëMarketingí and
ëMarketing Plansí were in fact executed by the agency (who also did everything
else). Ad agencies pioneered market research (JWT started the British Market
Research Bureau); they created test kitchens for npd, devised TV programming
(think Comptonís P & G soap operas ), PR ladies who lunched etc etc.
The 60s and 70s brought dramatic changes as more and more clients restructured
along marketing lines, such that nowadays the majority of clients have their own
marketing and market research departments in house. These days they look to their
agencies for specialist advice on advertising and communications rather than as
(media neutral) marketing consultants.
More fool them, some planners might say. For that broader brush communications
vision is where planning has been heading for some time, and the accountability that
planning can bring to the party has now slipped further down the agenda as
marketing has ceased to feature at the board room level. Which is unfortunate. And
also a topic for another day.
What is Account Planning for (Daddy)?*
And why you should have some.
Almost every communications agency (and their clients) benefits from a disciplined
system for devising communications/advertising/commercial strategy and enhancing
its ability to produce outstanding creative solutions that will be effective in the
marketplace. It is the plannerís job to guide or facilitate this process via the astute
application of knowledge or consumer/market understanding. Only oops I mean
Planners can do zees. And why can planners do this?
Because planners are in a unique position in their jobs because they have an
understanding of the audience through research expertise AND an understanding of
how it will be applied within their own business thus they provide a crucial bridge.
At the core of this task, is the need to understand the consumer/customer
(interchangeable) and the brand to unearth a key insight for the
communication/solution (Relevance). As media channels have mushroomed and
communication channels have multiplied, it has become increasingly important for
communication to cut through the cynicism and connect with its audience
(Distinctiveness). And as planners move into client companies, brand identity coís,
design coís and the internet world, the planner can provide the edge needed to
ensure the solution reaches out through the clutter to its intended audience.
Moreover, to continue the learning cycle, planners must also recognise the need to
demonstrate how and why the communication has performed (Effectiveness).
Finally, to bring upstream thinking to the brandís development. Brands must move
forward, or they die!
*Title stolen with Pride from Jeremy Bulmoreís Inaugural Address at the first APG
meeting in 1978.
What Roles does Planning Fulfil?
Thinking about the portfolio nature of the plannerís working day, weíve made a list of
the various job functions and skill sets a planner often needs to fulfil.
- Market Researcher
Many account planners have evolved from market researcher origins. Jane
Newman (undisputed Queen of Planning, USA) used to say that account planning
ësubsumedí the agency market research function. We believe quite strongly that
market research craft skills (and adherence to MRS Code of Practice principles) are
the backbone of the plannerís platform. If you canít devise, conduct, analyse, report
on and monitor surveys objectively, how can you possibly hope to judge their
usefulness or commission appropriately? The planner should never assume that the
researcher is the sole expert. Elements of questionnaire design, the way a question
is phrased, for example, can fundamentally affect the outcome of the study. Black
box modelling techniques may be so much theory but they can critically enhance or
destroy projects. Planners need to be able to ignore, challenge or exploit such
things from a perspective built on understanding or at least something more solid
than assertion and prejudice.
- Data Analyst
The planner is charged with ensuring that all data relevant to the brandís
communication decisions be properly analysed, complemented with new research
where appropriate, and then brought to bear on judgements of the creative strategy
and evaluation of the communications. This is more than just knowing your way
around computer tabs from a pre test, but also sales data, trend data, demographics,
etc etc. Knowing how to interrogate data and find a story through it rather than be
intimidated by it is the challenge. Common sense, intuition, numeracy and clarity of
thinking all help. Think of yourself as detective rather than a plodding copper on the
beat ëconducting enquiriesí.
- Qualitative Focus Group Moderator
Qualitative research (and the ubiquitous focus group) has taken on an increasingly
significant role in everyoneís lives. ìLetís do a couple of groups and see what they
sayî says Tony Blair, Brand Manager to the nation. Moderating your own groups is
by far the best way of coming to grips with your target audience, putting yourself in
their shoes and seeing the world from their perspective. It also gives the planner a
confidence and an authority he/she wouldnít otherwise be entitled to. It means you
are both a psychologist and an interpreter.
- Information Centre
Knowledge is the bedrock of the plannerís craft. Knowing where to go to find stuff
out is key. However much time pressure is brought to bear on your working day,
planners should always make time to feed their heads.
- Bad Cop (to account managementís good cop)
Despite the fact that planners are outnumbered by account management by 4 to 1
(source: IPA survey 2000) we tend to work in pairs. Very often, it makes sense to
adopt the bad cop/good cop routine with some clients and some creatives in order to
deliver some bad/challenging/alternative/unexpected news without ruining the
relationship. Since the news is usually grounded in objective fact, the planner should
deliver it as constructively as possible. Occasionally, of course, you get to play good
cop, too ñ depending on your agency culture and your client relationships!
- NPD Consultant
One of the most fun aspects of working on multinational packaged goods brands is
the fact that they are still investing in new product development. Being in at the birth
of a product through to its positioning, naming, testing and (rarer than henís teeth)
successful advertising launch, can be one of the most interesting and formative
experiences for a planner.
- Brainstorming Facilitator
What better way than the brainstorm to hot house creativity or to get everyone on the
team singing from the same song sheet so the brand and its communications can
move forward? More challenging and more exhausting than the average group
discussion because youíll (hopefully) be dealing with the Chairman and the brand
manager and the creative director in the same session, itís also more rewarding.
Make sure you have some good warm-up exercises up your sleeve.
- Target Audience Representative/Voice of the Consumer
Itís the oldie but goldie. The plannerís ëcocktail partyí job definition. Their job is to
ensure that an understanding of consumer attitudes and behaviour is brought to bear
at every stage of communications development via continuous involvement in the
process. Many of the places we work and the colleagues we work with are not
representative of the sorts of people and places where our communications are
aimed, so itís a good idea to be an empathetic sort.
- Soothsayer/Futurologist
Letís face it, our job title does have a hint of crystal ball gazing within it. This aspect
of the plannerís craft is to have a genuine interest in and capacity to generate
knowledge about trends and anticipate social movements that their colleagues can
actually use to grow their brands. And then of course, thereís always the Henley
Centre. Planners can drive the future by finding gaps and creating interest in things
the punter may not have thought of, but may be interested in.
- Media/Communications Planner
Some might say that this job is the next evolutionary phase of the account planner.
Certainly, as integration across media becomes every agencyís growth strategy and
understanding how consumers consume communication their mission statement, it is
increasingly more important for the planner to understand the strategic role and
effectiveness of different media, by target and by category, and know when and how
it is relevant to use them to achieve the brands objectives.
- Strategic Thinker/Strategy Developer
If the creative brief is the plannerís tangible output, developing the brand
communications strategy is the precursor task. Strategies help us get to the right
marketing/communications brief. It ensures the whole team are aware of the
assumptions being made and aids evaluation of the work's effectiveness. The
planner identifies the key issue and determines the role for communication against a
specific target.
- Writer of the Creative Brief
The brief is widely considered to be the plannerís main product ñ or ëkey tangible
deliverableí to the creative development process. One of the myths is that all
planners do is transcribe the clientís marketing jargon into baby talk so the creatives
can understand it. Thereís considerably more to it than that of course; clarity,
brevity, and fertility being the hygiene factors of a good creative brief. And as the
creative brief has the power to spark ideas ñ and ideas is what our business is all
about ñ then that is a pretty important role.
- Think Piece Polemicist
There are aspects of the plannerís job that sometimes entail sitting in a darkened
room with a towel round your head, mulling over deep thoughts. These times may
be accompanied by a passion or a fascination for a certain theme. Write it down,
rant about it from conference platforms, get it published. Original thinking is a
powerful tool, and when persuasively and compellingly delivered can have real
impact on the business you are working on and the people you are working with.
- Social Anthropologist
Our world is changing at an amazing rate, with technology and information moving at
a breathtaking pace. Advertising has always been a young personís profession and
nowadays it is even more important for creative people to be in touch and au fait with
rapidly evolving cultural and social trends to ensure their ideaís relevance to the
target audience. In the time its taken me to write this, surf wear has probably gone
out of fashion, and my Sony VAI0 has been superseded by yet another ìwafer-thinî
laptop. Monitoring cultural and social trends is a specialist task, and the findings
need to be fed in early to brand and creative development. Differentiating between
mere ìfashionî and genuine cultural trends is not something for the inexperienced ñ
many people can tell you whatís in and whatís out, but planners should be able to tell
you why.
- Insight Miner
This section probably deserves its own book, but deriving insight from knowledge is
one of the most important skills a planner can possess. These insights about the
clientís business can come from a variety of areas:
- the consumer
- the clientís culture
- the marketplace/category
- the competition
- the brand (past, present, future) values
- the product qualities
- the advertising and communication conventions of the category
Mining all these areas, (whether sporting a virtual helmet with a lamp on the front or
not) peering into nooks and crannies without losing sight of the big picture in order to
identify a key insight that can transform a client's business, is a real skill.
ìAt the heart of an effective creative philosophy is the belief that nothing is so
powerful as an insight into human nature, what compulsions drive a man,
what instincts dominate his action, even though his language so often can
camouflage what really motivates himî Bill Bernbach
- Knowledge Applicator
Not wishing to sound like a cosmetic brush (or worse), there are those who believe
most passionately that in this new information age it is in the applying of (rather than
acquiring and regurgitating) knowledge that the planner truly comes into their own.
To paraphrase Jon Steel, finding things out, filtering them, rethinking them laterally
and then using that knowledge to help creative people come up with a (better) idea
easier or faster means that the planner is doing their job properly and making a
difference. Not making a difference in this way is a hindrance and you should move
out of the way and let everyone else get on with it.
What Planners donít do (well)
Opportunity here for some cheap gags about bag carrying (account manís job) and
the general administrative disfunctionality of the account planning breed.
In general, planners are not very well organised. Tidy minds tend to move in a linear
fashion, rather than laterally. And while some may feign incompetence so they donít
get stuck delivering proofs to clients at 11pm, itís not advisable to ask a planner to do
the following:
- go to client meetings on their own (theyíll get lost)
- write the contact report (their minds wander)
- act as a shrill for the creative work (unless its grounded in consumer
knowledge otherwise integrity and objectivity are compromised)
- write timetables
- set deadlines (there might just be some other nugget out there that Iíve
still to unearth)
- Have anything to do with invoices!
The Ideal Account Planner ñ Recruitment Spec
The following is an excerpt from a recruitment brief from my days at Chiat/Day in the
US. Were I to be setting up a department from scratch, I donít think I would change
any of it, except perhaps to substitute the word ìcommunicationî where it says
advertising. With thanks to Rob White and Jane Newman.
Key Characteristics
Curiosity about what makes people act and think the way they do; capable or real
insights into motivation; someone who understands that what people say is not
necessarily what they believe or do; someone who is detailed enough to examine a
problem from different perspectives without losing sight of the big picture; logical
and analytical, yet capable of lateral thought; views research as a means to an end;
not technique-oriented; pragmatic approach to problem solving.
Ability to conceptualise and think strategically; ability to clearly identify problems
(getting to the nub of it); capable of taking a commercial and making a reasonable
judgement/guess on its intended effects (role of advertising, target consumer,
desired responses); intuitive about people, brands and advertising; able to
portray a target consumer without immediately stating demographics; an
understanding of advertising as only one tool in the marketing mix, its potential uses
and its limitations; an ability to see alternate strategic routes for a given
problem/brand.
Numerate. Able to visualise the meaning of numbers and generate hypotheses, or
draw conclusions; an eclectic user of information, with a desire to draw on all
sources rather than just the most recent; someone who accepts nothing at face
value, and challenges assumptions until the whole picture (sales, quantitative,
qualitative, competitive info, etc) makes sense.
Advertising orientation; passionate about the subject, ìIíve always been interested in
advertisingî; above all, someone who enjoys talking about advertising.
Presentation skills; able to argue a point of view coherently and concisely; not
afraid of big or senior audiences; able to ëwiní an argument without making the
protagonist (client) feel like a loser; quick-thinker; able to speak authoritatively,
without seeming dogmatic or inflexible.
People skills; a team player; someone who can appreciate and use inputs from
others; someone who knows when to push and when to relax.
Great personality! Must be able to see the funny side of it all; to be a participant,
not an observer; involvement must be genuine, not forced; must to able to deal with
pressure, unpredictable circumstances (like jumping on a plane to Wichita at a
momentís notice), an informal, loosely structured work environment, and (occasional)
criticism; not territorial nor defensive nor paranoid.
Finally, there is an aphorism, to which I subscribe, that there is no such thing as a
ìjunior plannerî. Joseph Heller would approve. The problem is that the planning role
(in most agency cultures) is imbued with such credibility and authority that whatever
a planner says can be construed as pearls. And as with most professions, the more
experience you have (in terms of not just breadth of categories worked in, years on
the clock but also craft skills accumulated), the more useful and productive you can
be. The following therefore is a list of ideal experience and craft skills for a full grown
adult planner.
The Ideal Craft Skills and Experience
Market Research Practitioner ñ Bedrock
- Conversant with the key methodologies and practitioners
- Understands how to use the research tool; its potential and its limitations.
- Qualitative skills ñ able to translate research objectives into a discussion
guide, experienced moderator, comfortable dealing with parties both sides of
the one way mirror. Good facilitator (brainstorms, awaydays etc)
- Quantitative skills
Brands
- Has been involved with decisions about brands, as opposed to decisions
about research. Has understanding of brands and their brand values.
Advertising and Communications
- Has direct experience in the development and production of commercial
communications, preferably not just 30 second ads.
People Management
- To have had client contact experience at Marketing Director level (minimum).
- Able to present points of view or research findings to this level of audience.
- Team catalyst ñ not just a good team player but able to ìleadî teams via
persuasion, facilitation rather than command and control leadership.
- Comfortable working with a broad church of types ñ junior to senior, creatives
to media, clients to secretaries, teenagers to businessmen.
- Able to train, motivate appraise and ìbring onî juniors, not simply delegate
their menial jobs to them.
